Abukacha’s Shoes by Tamar Tessler

Review by Fatima Khan, Associate Producer, ReadingWithYourKids.com

Abukacha’s Shoes is a funny and beautiful book with a flavor of folktale!

It is a story about Abukacha who lived with his wife, Louisa, their son, Schmil, and their old dog Marco in a small village. He ha the biggest shoes in the whole world, making them instantly recognisable to everyone.  He bought them long time ago and was in love with his shoes. With those shoes, he had travelled around the world, worked in the fields and had gone fishing. The shoes were worn out and started to look filthy dirty so he finally decided to buy a new shoes.  When he had a new pair made, he threw the old ones in the trash. The garbage collector saw them, assumed a mistake had been made, and helpfully returned them.  Abukacha thought his shoes were too big to fit in the garbage truck so he threw them in the sea but Fisherman found it and returned them to him. Abukacha again throwing the shows down a deep well proves equally pointless, as the shoes are returned each time. When he sent them aloft in a hot air balloon, it seemed as if he might finally succeed but they floated back, and he recognised that his old shoes really belong right there with him.

All the characters in this book appears in the form of cut photographs arranged with large heads on bodies in appropriate positions and stances. In an author’s note Tessler explains that this story was told for generations in her family and the photos honour family members lost in the Holocaust.

This book is super fun to read. Tamar Tessler’s use of family photographs and felt to create the illustrations was genius and creative. It made the story really come to life. I would highly recommend this book for 5 to 6 year old readers and I am sure it will bring the smile to their faces and they will completely fall in love with this book.

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